What about the kids??? (Optifast/Medifast)

Ok so I was looking into having wls but decided I'd take a step back and take a look at some other options before making any serious decisions, and due to the fact that my boyfriend has successfully lost 80 lbs and has kept it off for 3 years now after being on the Optifast diet, it is definitally something I'm interested in looking into more for myself. When he took part in the program last he chose the full fast which is a full liquid diet, no food at all. If I do decided to go this route with Optifast I'll probably choose the same. My boyfriend has agreed to go back on the program to reach his goal weight and to also help support me during my journey as well.

Now I'm sure there has got to be other couples out here who have done a weightloss program together. I'm wondering how did you deal with having to cook for your children everyday when you weren't "allowed" to eat???

Cooking dinner for my boys every night was a huge factor in which weight loss program I decided on. I cook dinner so I realized this was my opportunity to start cooking healthier for the four of us. I realize it is different for each of us, but we have to be around food so cooking healthier dinners may help you in the long run.

I've started morning shakes, cutting out fried foods, chips, sweets and trying to eat a lot more vegetables and water.

The nice thing about Medifast is you DO get to cook and eat dinner with your family! You eat 5 Medifast meals (shakes or whichever ones you want) during the day and then one "real" meal with family. So I make the usual, and just have my portion without carbs. For example:

tacos in tortillas with all the toppings for the kids, but I have my taco meat on a big salad

(low carb) meatloaf and mashed potatoes for the kids, but I have mine with mashed cauliflower or steamed broccoli

low carb spaghetti squash and turkey Italian sausages... kids have it over pasta and I have it over spaghetti squash

baked chicken with green beans, and the kids get some brown rice with theirs.

Thanks guys for replying, however I am planning to do a full fast, which is no food at all, just shakes. I prefer this method because I don't want to "tease" myself with food while I'm actively on the diet.

Anyways, I think I may have found a way to help myself in this actually... Freezer cooking. So once a month I prepare and freeze portion sized meals just for my daughter. When I get up in the morning I'll just pop a meal for her into the crock pot, let it cook all day and then just serve it to her at dinner. That way I'm not temping myself to eat while I'm preparing her food. Everything is already made and waiting to be heated and served. Having to only cook once a month seems so much more less "riskful" to me than cooking every night. Then as I get to the end of my diet, and it's time in incoporate more foods into my routine, I can start cooking more often instead of using the frozen meals.

Thanks guys for replying, however I am planning to do a full fast, which is no food at all, just shakes. I prefer this method because I don't want to "tease" myself with food while I'm actively on the diet.

Anyways, I think I may have found a way to help myself in this actually... Freezer cooking. So once a month I prepare and freeze portion sized meals just for my daughter. When I get up in the morning I'll just pop a meal for her into the crock pot, let it cook all day and then just serve it to her at dinner. That way I'm not temping myself to eat while I'm preparing her food. Everything is already made and waiting to be heated and served. Having to only cook once a month seems so much more less "riskful" to me than cooking every night. Then as I get to the end of my diet, and it's time in incoporate more foods into my routine, I can start cooking more often instead of using the frozen meals.

sound like a good idea to you???

Sounds good, as long as you are being supervised by your doctor. Eating only 600 calories a day can cause some pretty big health problems.

Hi, I'm doing Optifast and am in week 7. I did 5 shakes plus a salad or broccoli and a cup of veggie soup for the first four weeks and lost 3pounds a week. The nutritionist at the doc said no! Just do the supplements so I tried that and cheated a bunch and only lost a pound a week. So I'm off to make my veggie soup... Since I eat that while I cook for the guys, I don't feel as deprived. Let us know how it goes!

In terms of freezer meals, I don't know how old your daughter is, but I am a freezer meal fanatic. Two of my five year old daughter's favorite foods that I pull from the freezer are cooked homemade squash/chicken nuggets or zucchini/turkey meatballs. Then I just cook up the rest of the meal that night, though you can pre cook and portion pasta and rice to freeze or microwave a potato and just make a fresh veggie (my daughter loves a simple tomato salad, roasted broccoli, corn, roasted cauliflower, or peas).

Squash chicken nuggets: Mix 1lb ground chicken, 2 grated yellow squash (squeeze water out) and 1 egg. I season with a bit of adobo, but you can use salt, pepper, whatever you want. Form into chicken nugget shapes, bread in whole wheat panko, and bake at 425 on a lightly sprayed cookie sheet for about 15 mins.

For freezing: Let cool and use a spatula to make sure the nuggets/meatballs are not stuck to the cookie sheet. Freeze on the cookie sheet for about four hours or until solid. Transfer the food into labeled freezer bags. This way you can take out as many as you want at a time and they're not stuck together. You can microwave them, use a pan, or even the oven before serving.

I make freezer burritos for us similarly in that I cook the filling, fill high fiber wraps, then sprinkle with cheese and roll into burritos. Freeze them unbaked on a cookie sheet. Once frozen, you can transfer to a freezer bag. When I'm ready to eat, I warm it somewhat in the microwave and brown it in a dry pan for a crispy burrito.

I have successfully frozen cauliflower macaroni and cheese as well, which is helpful with the little one, though I usually just whip up two servings if she asks for it, and refrigerate the rest.

I will say that my nuggets are my boyfriend's favorite food. While my daughter dips them in honey BBQ sauce, he dips them in picamas (Guatemalan hot sauce) and they're amazing.

The biggest part of cooking for the kids is going to probably getting them to understand that you are aiming for a healthier lifestyle in which to live longer for them as well as help them avoid having to do the same things in the future. Once that's drilled in for them to understand and you can show them some examples of how they could end up (overexaggerate it and find photos and videos on the internet that will make them want to change immediately) then they will be more than supportive of your family's transition.

While doing so, you want to have some "fun days" for them to maybe choose what kind of food they want to eat (for example pizza... tacos... etc.) but cook it while they are not in the kitchen with you. That'll be your chance to swap out ingredients and build something much healthier and they won't even know it so they can't not want to try it. After they gobble it down (hopefully) then you can say, hey... that wasn't what you thought it was!!! I see you all enjoyed my **** mixed with **** eh!? They'll be surprised and might even actually advocate the newer food to where they prefer it and adopt it as part of their own future regimens.

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